Blizzard offices raided in South Korea

SHARE THIS ARTICLE

Fair Trade Commission to look at whether studio was 'ill-prepared' for large Diablo III traffic

South Korea government officials have raided Blizzard's offices in Seoul as it launches an investigation into the studio over allegations it refused to refund Diablo III purchases.

As reported by The Korea Times, the company is suspected to have violated laws relating to electronic commerce and commercial contracts over its refusal to refund customers unhappy with server shutdowns in the game’s opening days of release.

The offices were raided on Monday in an effort to secure related documents and evidence to discover whether Blizzard had broken the law and offered unfair terms.

The country’s Fair Trade Commission has said Blizzard’s sales contract terms are disadvantageous, but the studio has disputed this.

The FTC said it had received “many complaints” from Diablo III users.

It is now looking into whether Blizzard should be liable for “ill-preparation” for the large number of traffic to hit the game, crippling the game’s servers early on.

The Korea Times states that some investigators expect the FTO to “issue an order mandating Blizzard to provide a full refund to all unhappy customers”.